Stockton man sentenced in Ceres home break-in, plan to rape woman

A judge on Friday sentenced a 20-year-old Stockton man to serve 25 years and eight months in prison for trying to rape a Ceres woman in her home not long after he was released from jail.

Aaron Modisett-Hollie has pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and assault with the intent to rape the woman. The burglary charge included an enhancement of breaking into the house when someone was home.

The woman survived the 2014 attack after fighting back with a piece of broken glass after the intruder smashed a window and crawled into her home. She was given an opportunity to speak in court Friday morning before the defendant was sentenced, but she wasn’t present.

Deputy District Attorney Jared Carrillo told the judge that the victim was aware of the plea deal offer, and she was notified when the defendant entered the guilty plea. But she told prosecutors she didn’t want to appear in court and participate in the sentencing hearing.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves sentenced Modisett-Hollie to 19 years and eight months in the attack on the Ceres woman. She sentenced him to an additional six years in prison for violating probation by breaking into the woman’s home.

The defendant was on probation when he was released early after serving a jail sentence in an assault conviction with the intent to commit rape in an unrelated case.

The judge also ordered the defendant to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Modisett-Hollie sat quietly in the courtroom Friday and only spoke to answer the judge’s questions, indicating he understood the sentence he had received.

In a preliminary hearing last year, Ceres police Officer Ross Bays testified that Modisett-Hollie was bored and had wandered from Modesto to the 2100 block of Moffet Road in Ceres, where the attack occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Feb. 18, 2014.

The officer said on the witness stand that Modisett-Hollie didn’t want to return to Stockton before meeting probation officials because he didn’t have transportation. So he decided to stay in the area.

During police interrogation, the defendant said he spotted the woman watering her lawn. Modisett-Hollie noticed she was alone and watched her walk into her home before he tried to enter through the front door, according to the officer.

The defendant couldn’t enter through the door, so he walked around the home and entered the property through the home’s backyard. Bays testified that Modisett-Hollie grabbed a brick and smashed the window. He said the defendant told him that the woman started screaming as he crawled through the broken window.

The officer said Modisett-Hollie initially told him he intended to get inside and convince her she would be OK because he was only going to burglarize her home.

During cross-examination, Bays said he changed his line of questioning once the defendant spoke about his prior conviction. Before that, the officer said, there was no suspicion that Modisett-Hollie had intended to commit a sexual assault.

After Bays changed his line of questioning, the defendant said he entered the home to have sex with the woman and he intended to knock her out, according to the officer’s testimony. Bays said Modisett-Hollie believed he could overpower the woman because she was alone.

The woman told the officer she tried to stab the intruder with the piece of glass but wasn’t sure if she had cut him. Bays testified that the defendant left the home but was captured in a nearby field. Modisett-Hollie was found with what appeared to be a fresh cut on his neck and some blood on his clothes.

Modisett-Hollie told police he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In 2014, the court determined the defendant was mentally competent to face charges in this case based on a mental health evaluation.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Stockton man sentenced in Ceres home break-in, plan to rape woman."